SatelliteInfo (C++/QML)

Key Qt Positioning classes used in this example:

• QGeoSatelliteInfo
• QGeoSatelliteInfoSource

The example displays the signal strength of all satellites in view. Any satellite that is currently used to calculate the GPS fix is marked pink. The number at the bottom of each signal bar is the individual satellite identifier.

The application operates in three different modes:

If the platform does not provide satellite information, the application automatically switches into a demo mode, whereby it continuously switches between predefined sets of satellite data.

Running the Example

To run the example from Qt Creator, open the Welcome mode and select the example from Examples. For more information, visit Building and Running an Example.

Satellite Info Model

The key part of this example is the SatelliteModel data model. It represents the information about the satellites. It uses the Q_PROPERTY and QML_ELEMENT macros, so that it can be available from QML.

class SatelliteModel : public QAbstractListModel, public QQmlParserStatus
{
    Q_OBJECT
    Q_PROPERTY(bool running READ running WRITE setRunning NOTIFY runningChanged)
    Q_PROPERTY(bool satelliteInfoAvailable READ canProvideSatelliteInfo NOTIFY canProvideSatelliteInfoChanged)
    Q_PROPERTY(int entryCount READ entryCount NOTIFY entryCountChanged)
    Q_PROPERTY(bool singleRequestMode READ isSingleRequest WRITE setSingleRequest NOTIFY singleRequestChanged)
    Q_INTERFACES(QQmlParserStatus)
    QML_ELEMENT
public:
    explicit SatelliteModel(QObject *parent = 0);

    enum {
        IdentifierRole = Qt::UserRole + 1,
        InUseRole,
        SignalStrengthRole,
        ElevationRole,
        AzimuthRole
    };

    //From QAbstractListModel
    int rowCount(const QModelIndex &parent) const override;
    QVariant data(const QModelIndex &index, int role) const override;
    QHash<int, QByteArray> roleNames() const override;

    //From QQmlParserStatus
    void classBegin() override {}
    void componentComplete() override;
signals:
    void runningChanged();
    void entryCountChanged();
    void errorFound(int code);
    void canProvideSatelliteInfoChanged();
    void singleRequestChanged();

public slots:
    void clearModel();
    void updateDemoData();
};

The SatelliteModel object creates an instance of QGeoSatelliteInfoSource using the createDefaultSource() method. Once the source is created, the satellitesInViewUpdated() and satellitesInUseUpdated() signals are used to notify about the changes in satellite information.

SatelliteModel::SatelliteModel(QObject *parent) :
    QAbstractListModel(parent), source(0), m_componentCompleted(false), m_running(false),
    m_runningRequested(false), demo(false), isSingle(false), singleRequestServed(false)
{
    source = QGeoSatelliteInfoSource::createDefaultSource(this);
    if (!demo && !source) {
        qWarning() << "No satellite data source found. Changing to demo mode.";
        demo = true;
    }
    if (!demo) {
        source->setUpdateInterval(3000);
        connect(source, SIGNAL(satellitesInViewUpdated(QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo>)),
                this, SLOT(satellitesInViewUpdated(QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo>)));
        connect(source, SIGNAL(satellitesInUseUpdated(QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo>)),
                this, SLOT(satellitesInUseUpdated(QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo>)));
        connect(source, SIGNAL(errorOccurred(QGeoSatelliteInfoSource::Error)),
                this, SLOT(error(QGeoSatelliteInfoSource::Error)));
    }

    if (demo) {
        timer = new QTimer(this);
        connect(timer, SIGNAL(timeout()), this, SLOT(updateDemoData()));
        timer->start(3000);
    }
}

The aforementioned signals provide the lists of QGeoSatelliteInfo objects that represent satellites in view and satellites in use, respectively. This data is used to update the model.

void SatelliteModel::satellitesInViewUpdated(const QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo> &infos)
{
    if (!running())
        return;

    int oldEntryCount = knownSatellites.count();

    QSet<int> satelliteIdsInUpdate;
    foreach (const QGeoSatelliteInfo &info, infos)
        satelliteIdsInUpdate.insert(info.satelliteIdentifier());

    QSet<int> toBeRemoved = knownSatelliteIds - satelliteIdsInUpdate;

    //We reset the model as in reality just about all entry values change
    //and there are generally a lot of inserts and removals each time
    //Hence we don't bother with complex model update logic beyond resetModel()
    beginResetModel();

    knownSatellites = infos;

    //sort them for presentation purposes
    std::sort(knownSatellites.begin(), knownSatellites.end());

    //remove old "InUse" data
    //new satellites are by default not in "InUse"
    //existing satellites keep their "inUse" state
    satellitesInUse -= toBeRemoved;

    knownSatelliteIds = satelliteIdsInUpdate;
    endResetModel();

    if (oldEntryCount != knownSatellites.count())
        emit entryCountChanged();
}

void SatelliteModel::satellitesInUseUpdated(const QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo> &infos)
{
    if (!running())
        return;

    beginResetModel();

    satellitesInUse.clear();
    foreach (const QGeoSatelliteInfo &info, infos)
        satellitesInUse.insert(info.satelliteIdentifier());

    endResetModel();
}

If the satellite info source is not available, demo data is used to simulate satellite information updates.

void SatelliteModel::updateDemoData()
{
    static bool flag = true;
    QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo> satellites;
    if (flag) {
        for (int i = 0; i<5; i++) {
            QGeoSatelliteInfo info;
            info.setSatelliteIdentifier(i);
            info.setSignalStrength(20 + 20*i);
            satellites.append(info);
        }
    } else {
        for (int i = 0; i<9; i++) {
            QGeoSatelliteInfo info;
            info.setSatelliteIdentifier(i*2);
            info.setSignalStrength(20 + 10*i);
            satellites.append(info);
        }
    }

    satellitesInViewUpdated(satellites);
    flag ? satellitesInUseUpdated(QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo>() << satellites.at(2))
         : satellitesInUseUpdated(QList<QGeoSatelliteInfo>() << satellites.at(3));
    flag = !flag;

    emit errorFound(flag);

    if (isSingleRequest() && !singleRequestServed) {
        singleRequestServed = true;
        setRunning(false);
    }
}

The model is later used in QML to visualize the data.

Exposing the Model to QML

To expose SatelliteModel to QML, we use the QML_ELEMENT macro. See the QQmlEngine class documentation for more details on it.

To make the type available in QML, we need to update our build accordingly.

CMake Build

For a CMake-based build, we need to add the following to the CMakeLists.txt:

qt_add_qml_module(satelliteinfo
    URI Local
    VERSION 1.0
    QML_FILES satelliteinfo.qml
    NO_RESOURCE_TARGET_PATH
)

qmake Build

For a qmake build, we need to modify the satelliteinfo.pro file in the following way:

CONFIG += qmltypes
QML_IMPORT_NAME = Local
QML_IMPORT_MAJOR_VERSION = 1

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